Christmas reading
December 29, 2004
I’m half-way through Steve McConnell’s Code Complete 2 and I am now thoroughly bored. There’s a lot of good advice in there, but the book is just so damned big… It’s probably not helped by me being a bit of a slow reader.
Yesterday I bought and read a book called The Idler’s book of Crap Jobs. It’s a rated collection of 100 really shitty jobs, by accounts of the Idler’s readers. A few were funny, but ’twas mostly tedious reading. Luckily it was really short.
Today I’ve finally started one of the books I’ve been looking forward to read for some time. It’s called Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrel and said by Neil Gaiman to be “unquestionably the finest English novel of the fantastic written in the last seventy years“. I’m only a few chapters in, but I’ll be giving a fuller account when I’m finished.
Peterlee
December 29, 2004
This year I’m spending Christmas holiday up north in a little town called Peterlee, not far south Newcastle and Gateshead. I am visiting Nadia’s family.
A couple of days ago Nadia and I visited the Metro centre, apparently still one of the largest shopping centres in Europe. I bought four pairs of trousers, a shirt, a jumper and a guitar.
We’ve not been out much, yet. We’ve been to Hartlepool a couple of times (once sightseeing and once to visit more shops) and to the beach once. Apart from that we’ve hardly been out the door. Ah, lazy days…
Picadilly Circus Blues
December 17, 2004
Yesterday I found myself at Picadilly Circus tube station. Just up the stairs from the Picadilly line platforms was the most gifted busker I’ve experienced. The only instrument he had was a harmonica, but using his hands, feet and voice as well he managed to sound like a four-piece, top-notch blues-band. I shit you not, this guy was good.
No pain, no gain?
December 9, 2004
Rather the opposite, I’d say. You have no idea how I look forward to gaining a good night’s sleep, unaided by copious amounts of non-prescription painkillers. Every night since Saturday I’ve had to take painkillers before the idea of sleeping becomes a realistic option.
Improvements
December 9, 2004
For the first time since Saturday I’ve managed to sleep through a whole night without getting up to take painkillers. The empty socket left by my lower right wisdom tooth have started hurting a bit again though. I guess it’s because the pad of mysterious, foul-tasting fibers the dentist put in on Tuesday fell out last night.
I had planned to have my only remaining wisdom tooth pulled on the 18th, just before Christmas. However, in the light of this experience I’ve decided to wait until the new year.
Much relieved
December 7, 2004
I am now in much better shape than I was earlier today. Luckily I managed to get an appointment with my dentist on short notice. He confirmed that I was suffering from a dry socket and gave me a prescription for penicilin to battle it (aparently a dry socket consists of / includes an infection in the jawbone). He also put a small pad of something foul-smelling and foul-tasting into the empty socket.
At the time I was a bit dissapointed that I was not given a prescription for some stronger painkillers. Instead I was advised to try a different type of non-prescription ones (namely Syndol) that would be better for my condition. However, the foul pad he put in seems to have done the trick; shortly after (before I had time to swallow the new painkillers) my pain was much relieved.
After seeing the dentist I went straight back home and slept for several hours. It was lovely; I haven’t slept so comfortably in quite some time.
“Lack of tooth”-ache
December 7, 2004
I’ve been up most of the night with severe ache in the socket of one of the wisdom teeth I pulled on Saturday. It would seem that I have the misfortune of a dry socket. The strongest non-prescription painkillers I’ve been able to lay my mitts on fail utterly to shift the pain caused by this thing.
Have you seen those “funny” pictures of people in a dentist’s waiting room with a hot water bottle tied to the side to their faces? That’s me. I currently have a microwave-able teddybear tied to my chin/cheek with a scarf, complete with the knot on the top of my head (most practical place for it, really).
Pulling teeth
December 4, 2004
Today I went to the dentist and had two of my wisdom teeth pulled out, as well as having two fillings replaced. Only one remains now, as I had one extracted last year.
The local anesthetic have almost worn off now; the process of it doing so is worse than the actual pain after it has. I don’t know what it is about the stuff dentists give you that is so painful for the body to expell.
